


Strictly Business

by Kaesa



Series: Founders of Hogwarts [4]
Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Biting Pear, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Mad Science, Minor Violence, Romance, Technobabble, Unrequited Love, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-16
Updated: 2009-11-16
Packaged: 2017-10-03 02:10:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaesa/pseuds/Kaesa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Helga Lockhart, herbologist to the rich and famous, really likes her new business partner, Basil Hufflepuff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strictly Business

"What do you make of it?" Helga asked, trying not to look too smug.

He frowned; his nose crinkled when he did that, and it was _awfully_ cute. He probably had a girl somewhere. Strictly business, Helga reminded herself. Her interests in Master Hufflepuff were strictly, strictly business. Really attractive business that told good jokes. And had asked her to call him Basil. "What is it?" he asked.

"It's a, well. It's a sort of experiment," she said, and before she could stop herself, she _explained._ "It's an animal-plant hybrid -- not that they're anything new, I've been working with them for _ages,_ you've got to use fungus you see, even though it's sort of distasteful -- mycology's practically botanical necromancy, really, but it's so very _minimal_ and it does wonders for the grafting without a lot of complex arithmancy, but the really tricky thing is getting the _seeds_ to pass everything on -- but after all that, what it is _really_ is -- other than the mandible, of course, the ossification of which is an interesting problem in and of itself -- is that I'm trying to make something that can see. But without eyes, so really it's going to have to smell, since, _eyes,_ you know, they're _eyes_ and they make such good targets so I thought why bother with _eyes?_ Not when you can have less obvious _chemical_ receptors! More sensitive ones, even! So it's a cultivar I call 'Chien de la Guerre.' And this one's called Judy."

"...but what _is_ it?" he asked, frowning at her as though she had started speaking at him in Gaelic.

Really attractive business that knew nothing about herbology, she reminded herself, was not _nearly_ as attractive. Still. Men could be educated. Small, simple words. She sighed. "It's a pear tree that can smell."

"Oh, is that all?" And before she could stop him, he reached up to pick a pear off, and one of Judy's green-yellow maws opened a snarling mouth and sunk its wooden teeth into his wrist.

Several minutes later, she was apologizing for the eightieth time. "It's just that I thought I'd _mentioned_ the teeth," she said.

"Oh, it's just a scratch, I'll be fine," said Master Huffl-- _Basil._ Strictly-business Basil. He smiled bravely, an expression that dissolved into pain as soon as she applied the bandages. "Er. I think you said -- _ow_ \-- before, during lunch, that you -- _augh_ \-- wanted me to fight your plants?"

"Well, I thought," she said, "it could be, you know. Er. Good for business." She went red. Business. _Really!_ "If you know, we, _you,_ if you could fight them, I could, you know, make them better, so you couldn't beat them. As easily. I mean! I'm not going to feed you to them. That wouldn't be good. I'm so _sorry_ Judy bit you, I just thought --"

"It's fine," he said. "When do I start?" And he smiled _again._ He had brown eyes.

Strictly business. "Er. Tomorrow?"


End file.
